Reasons for taking classes
So in my school we need to take 6 liberal studies courses to graduate. I speak a foreign language, so I took 2 terms of that language course, and I probably will continue taking that language next year. My friend doesn't approve me picking classes that I know the material in. He says that taking a language class which I can already speak doesn't help me improve my knowledge, even if I get high grade. He says I should take classes that seem interesting and fun to learn, instead of taking classes that will give me high grade but learn almost nothing. But for me I don't really like liberal studies subjects like English, history, etc. I do admit that I'm taking the language class to get free grade while knocking out my 6 liberal studies at the same time. Do you guys agree with him or me?
10 Comments • Newest first
[quote=Bob11111]I am basically 100% fluent in it, since I was speaking it since I was very little.[/quote]
Then I agree with your friend. What's the point of taking classes of which you already know the material.
While it's noble to go with the whole idea of challenging yourself and learn for the sake of learning, just ask yourself if you really want to do that.
It doesn't matter... It's just high school. If you already know the material then better for you. It'll make your grades more appealing to university admissions.
you're investing into your education so you have every right to tailor your curriculum within the guidelines of the university. if you need a high gpa for anything you're doing post-grad, then it may be worth it to sacrifice diversity even though I support having a diverse curriculum otherwise. your friend isn't wrong, but not everybody has the same idea of what they want out of college.
[quote=TheZigen]I don't see anything wrong with taking your language, unless you are 100% fluent in speaking/reading/writing it, which I doubt you are(unless you went to school for it). I know Spanish because of my parents and I took first and third year Spanish, got an A with minimal effort. Im nowhere near fluent when it comes to speaking it (Im pretty fluent when I listen to it though) but I improved my writing skills a lot and it helped me become aware of when I'm making mistakes while speaking it lol
Just take it if you're not interested in other subjects[/quote]
I am basically 100% fluent in it, since I was speaking it since I was very little.
Honestly, i would go for the easy A's. If they are not related to my major why invest even more time in it when you can focus more on your core classes?
Just take the easy grade, learning is overrated.
I agree with him. I could have taken Chinese to fulfill credit requirements because it was my first language but I lost some of it throughout the years. I'm still fluent so I know I would have gotten near perfect in Chinese courses. But imo that's just a waste of money because you're not learning anything new, you're throwing money and not getting anything in return. For me, learning new things > an easy grade.
I don't think either of you are wrong. With the resources available now, it'll be what you make of the experience that counts. It's a good thing to be able to learn from accredited professionals but you could also self-teach most of that stuff on the Internet if you really wanted to. It might seem a bit wasteful not to take advantage of the situation if you're going to have to take classes for your degree anyway, but if you won't make much of the experience (i.e. learn a lot) because you don't like it, it would probably be just as wasteful to bother with those classes in the first place.
Your friend might still be right about you in that maybe there are really fun classes out there that you would be interested in and make a good experience of if taken, but I could justify what you're doing as well.
I don't see anything wrong with taking your language, unless you are 100% fluent in speaking/reading/writing it, which I doubt you are(unless you went to school for it). I know Spanish because of my parents and I took first and third year Spanish, got an A with minimal effort. Im nowhere near fluent when it comes to speaking it (Im pretty fluent when I listen to it though) but I improved my writing skills a lot and it helped me become aware of when I'm making mistakes while speaking it lol
Just take it if you're not interested in other subjects